The Yankees have changed their minds, again. Hughes was originally scheduled to pitch tonight, but on Friday, Joe Girardi said the team wanted to keep Hughes's workload down before the playoffs began, and Dustin Moseley was tabbed.

Now, with the possibility of perhaps no playoff innings for anyone, the Yankees have decided that increasing Hughes's innings pitched is not such a big deal after all.

Over his last six outings, Hughes has a 6.28 ERA.

Dice has a 6.98 ERA over his last seven starts. He has allowed 4+ earned runs in seven consecutive starts, the longest streak for a Red Sox pitcher since Dick Newsome went nine starts in 1942-43.

This afternoon: The Mariners beat the Rays 6-2 as Small Game James came up small yet again.

1906 - The Philadelphia A's finally snap their streak of 48 consecutive innings without scoring a run, but they still lose to Cleveland 5-3. The Cubs will tie this record of futility on June 15-21, 1968.

1912 - The Reds trail the Cubs 9-0 in the top of the ninth inning. But they rally! Chicago's Jimmy Lavender gives up five runs and is pulled with the bases loaded. Two Cubs relievers walk five straight batters and Cincinnati takes a 10-9 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Reds pitcher Ralph Works walks one Cub and hits another before Rube Benton comes in and walks three straight batters -- and the Cubs win 11-10.

Reds - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 - 10 13
Cubs - 1 1 2 0 2 0 3 0 2 - 11 11

Also on this day in 1912, the Red Sox beat the Yankees 15-12 at Fenway Park:

NYY - 0 2 1 0 4 5 0 0 - 12 16
BOS - 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 8 - 15 14

1926 - The Browns beat the Yankees 6-1 and 6-2 in a total time of 2:07, a major league record for a quick doubleheader. After the first game is played in 1:12, the second game takes only 55 minutes, the fastest game in American League history.

Who would have ever thought that being a Red Sox fan would turn you into the most crazily optimistic fan on the planet??

2004 is the gift that will never stop giving.

I am really not so crazily optimistic, but since I no longer have to worry that a season without a title puts me closer to death without having experienced one, I can relax and have fun.

It is a massive long shot. They will not break my heart by no doing it or if they almost do it but fail. But why not think it *could* happen -- since, it is literally possible. It would be amazing if it did!!

"Smart people with computers say it is like 99.2% certain that the Yankees will make the playoffs. (Sure, they might not get far with no pitching, but there's really nothing to sweat about right now.) Why are you not watching these games?"

From his ESPN chats, it is pretty clear that Morgan watches no baseball other than the game he does on Sunday night and has shown very little evidence of bothering to read much about other teams. I guess he talks to players on the field before the game.

Meaning, you follow the game more than he does. He is an idiot. He is no different than any other moron blabbing about baseball, but he gets to be on TV.

Some years ago, there was some Jackie Robinson - themed baseball thing, the anniversary of his ML debut I guess, and a celebration of African-Americans in baseball. Stuart Scott was emceeing (I think), and he had various people in the booth with him.

I couldn't believe it was the same Joe Morgan. He was - I swear - smart and articulate and very strong about racism, what the game was like when he came up. (Still segregated in the South when he was in the minors.)

Steve (New York): Joe, you did the Yankee game last Sunday, what were your thoughts on Joba Chamberlain?

Joe Morgan: He threw the ball well. I saw a guy who was quickly gaining major league starting experience. You have to remember, the Red Sox make hitting adjustments well, and aside from that one bad inning, he controlled them very well.

Questions for learning:

1. According to the text, how did Joba Chamberlain throw the ball?

(A. "Well.")

2. How do the Red Sox make hitting adjustements?

(A. "Well.")

3. How did Joba Chamberlain, aside from one bad inning, control the Red Sox?

Hey, that was a good play. I saw the damn thing. It was a good play. Those things happen quite often in baseball. They are a big part of the reasn I love baseball so much. It sure as hell wasn't worth repeating numerous times and treating it as though nobody else could have possiblt done that. I'll put Petey's defensive skills up against Cono's ant day of the week.

MLBTV has had a commercial for the Burns Inning for awhile. It makes it sound horrible -- like an Entertainment Tonight production, "the superstars, the [somethings], the scandals" -- though I know it won't be.